NSA surveillance found to be unconstitutional

Under the guise of national security, the National Security Agency has engaged in a massive and unprecedented campaign to collect personal data on all of us. The surveillance includes the identification and storage of every phone call made in the United States. That's right, "metadata" is collected on every call. To be sure, ...

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Posted Dec. 18, 2013 at 2:00 AM

Posted Dec. 18, 2013 at 2:00 AM

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Dec. 17 — To the Editor:

Under the guise of national security, the National Security Agency has engaged in a massive and unprecedented campaign to collect personal data on all of us. The surveillance includes the identification and storage of every phone call made in the United States. That's right, "metadata" is collected on every call. To be sure, the program represents government overreach at its worst. It infringes on the individual liberties and personal freedoms upon which our country was founded.

Yesterday, a federal court in the District of Columbia ruled that the NSA's broad surveillance program amounts to a violation of the United States Constitution. The court went so far as to call the program "Orwellian" in nature. While individual rights must sometimes be balanced against legitimate government interests, like national security, the Supreme Court has long held that the right to privacy is a fundamental right protected by the highest standard of judicial review. The NSA's systematic collection and retention of personal data on "virtually every single citizen" does not meet this standard.

The federal court decision represents a victory for personal freedoms, as well as the founding principle that constitutionality is determined by the judiciary, not through fiat of the executive branch.